I am not an IA but I play one on TV (Melinda Harrington)

Why is it that everybody thinks he or she is an IA? What makes somebody an IA? And if you are an IA, what are some strategies for stopping everyone else from stepping on your toes? A Project Manager shares some perspective from the other (not so dark) side.

From World IA Day 2013, Canberra

Transcript

1. I am not an IA but
   Melinda Harrington
   I am not an IA but
   I play one on TV
   

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2. I am not a doctor but
   I play one on TV
   

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3. I am not an IA but
   What is an IA?
   What is an IA?
   What is an IA?
   

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4. IA DEFINITION - my
   definition
   The IA (or UX professional) is the
   person on the team who uses his or
   her knowledge of best practice
   usability principles to design and
   document a user friendly interface
   that meets the business requirements
   of the project and helps the end user
   find everything.
   The primary deliverable - love it or
   hate it - that I need from an IA is
   wireframes.
   What is an IA?
   

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5. IA DEFINITION - Info Arch
   Institute
   Information Architecture Institute.
   We define information
   architecture as the art and
   science of organizing and
   labeling websites, intranets,
   online communities and
   software to support usability.!
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/2010/feb/02/what-is-information-architecture!
   As quoted by Martin Belam in “What is Information Architecture”
   Tuesday 2 February 09.00 GMT
   !
   

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6. IA DEFINITION - graphic Image by: tovovan/bigstock.com
   What is an IA?
   

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7. IA DEFINITION -little/big IA
   

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8. I am not an IA but
   IAs I have known before
   IAs I have
   known before
   

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9. I am not an IA but
   The Professor
   Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
   

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10. I am not an IA but
    The Tool
    Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
    

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11. I am not an IA but
    The Dummy Spit
    Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
    

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12. I am not an IA but
    The Baby
    Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
    

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13. I am not an IA but
    The Professional
    Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
    

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14. I am not an IA but
    The two most
    memorable graphs
    from PM school
    

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15. I am not an IA but
    Why I love IAs?
    

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16. I am not an IA but
    Why I don’t love IAs?
    Time
    Quality
    Scope
    

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17. I am not an IA but
    Getting the budget for an IA
    I am not an IA but
    Getting the budget
    for an IA
    

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18. I am not an IA but
    If everybody loves IAs why don’t
    they listen?
    Give me what I
    want and nobody
    gets hurt.
    

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19. I am not an IA but
    Give me what I want and nobody
    gets hurt?
    If everybody
    loves IAs so much
    why don’t they
    listen to us?
    

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20. I am not an IA but
    The Hippo
    Image by: yayayoyo/bigstock.com
    The Hippo
    

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21. What is a Hippo?
    http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/ff_abtesting/!
    “Google insiders, and A/B
    enthusiasts more generally, have a
    derisive term to describe a
    decisionmaking system that fails to
    put data at its heart: HiPPO -
    highest-paid person’s opinion. As
    Google analytics expert Avinash
    Kaushik declares, ‘Most websites
    suck because HiPPOs create them.’”!
    The A/B Test: Inside the Technology That’s Changing the Rules of Business
    By Brian Christian 04.25.12 8:47 PM
    

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22. How do you
    combat a Hippo?
    How do you combat a hippo?
    

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23. Data is your
    friend
    Data is your friend
    

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24. I am not an IA but
    In the Jurassic era
    

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25. I am not an IA but
    Why am I a PM?
    Why am I a
    Project Manager?
    

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26. I am not an IA but
    Why do I create Project Plans?
    Why do I create
    Project Plans if
    nobody else looks
    at them?
    

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27. I am not an IA but
    Why am I a not an IA?
    Why am I
    not an IA?
    

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28. Image by: TeddyandMia/bigstock.com
    Why are you an IA?
    What do you need to do to
    Make yourself a better one?
    

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29. My Pet Peeve
    

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